DUHABI, Nov 30: Departmental giant Tribhuvan Army Club has inched closer to the title of the Manomohan Duhabi Gold Cup Football Tournament after a convincing 5-2 win over BRC Bhutan in the first semifinal played on Wednesday.

In the match played at the Duhabi ground in Sunsari, Nawayug Shrestha and Tek Bahadur Budathoki each were at the double for the departmental team while Bharat Khawas added another goal. 

Army led the match 3-1 before the break which saw BRC getting limited to 10 men after its African defender Florent was sent off in the middle of second half. Florent was shown a straight red after he fouled Nawayug Shrestha in the danger zone. 

In Saturday's title clash, Amry will take on the winner of the second semifinal between Manang Marshyangdi Club and Jhapa XI scheduled for Thursday.

The one-sided match saw Army open the score as early as in the 14th minute. Tek pounced in on goalie Binay Shrestha's rebounder off Nawayug's strike in the danger zone.

Nepali international Nawayug made it 2-0 in the 26th minute in his lone effort. He sprinted the ball from the center and dribbled past three players before beating goalie Shrestha.

BRT cut the deficit two minutes later when Sam Obimiro netted from the zone after being set by Bishnu Sunwar off Nirajan Khadka corner. Nepali international Bharat restored the two-goal cushion for Army in the 31st minute in Tek's corner set by Suman Aryal. 

Reji Subba netted the second goal for BRC seven minutes into break when he collected goalie's rebounder off African forward Victor's freekick to make the scoreline 3-2. 

BRC was forced to play with a man down in the 67th after Florent fouled Nawayug inside the danger zone prompting the referee to flash red card and award penalty to Army. However, Army player Deepak Gurung fired the penalty off the post.  

Tek netted his second individual goal in the 70th minute with a header to make the score 4-2. He was later declared the man-of-the-match. Nawayug hammered the final nail in the coffin one minute from time.  

Army coach Nabin Neupane said that their perfect strategy enabled his team to registered the convincing win. “We were successful in our strategy of scoring goal within the initial 15 minutes. We also got scores in the second half,” he said. 

BRC coach pointed out the flaws in defense line up and red card to his player as the reason for the defeat. 

The tournament is being jointly organized by Eleven Arrows Club of Duhabai and Manomohan Foundation. 

 
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